Jabir bin Abdullah relates that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said: “Avoid cruelty and injustice, for on the Day of Judgement, the same will turn into several darknesses; and guard yourselves against miserliness; for this has ruined nations that lived before you. Miserliness led them to bloodshed and to treat the unlawful as lawful.
(Muslim)
Injustice, cruelty and miserliness are three deadly traits, which ruin man’s life. Allah’s Messenger ﷺ has warned the believers against these traits; for they yield them utter loss and failure here as well as in the hereafter. Injustice and cruelty towards fellow beings and God’s creations are despised and analogised as darkness on the Day of Judgement.
Cruelty and injustice assume different forms. The Blessed Messenger ﷺ once said that Allah has decreed the fire of Hell for a person who usurps the property of a Muslim through false oath. On another occasion, he warned that “your blood, your belongings and your honour are sacred to each other.”
Yet on another occasion, he said that a Muslim is a person who does not harm another Muslim either by his tongue (words) or hands (actions).
The Blessed Messenger ﷺ has admonished the believers against cruelty not only upon human beings but also animals, birds and even plants.
Similarly, miserliness is the manifestation of greed and petty mindedness. A miser also does not hesitate to make a prohibited thing permissible for himself. This leads one to envy, hatred, illegal means of amassing wealth and not looking after the needy, the poor and the destitute.